FEBRUARY 8, 1999

Testing at Magny-Cours and Silverstone

THERE were two Formula 1 tests last week with Williams and Prost in action at Magny-Cours and Benetton, Jordan and Arrows running at Silverstone. Williams went to Magny-Cours with two of the new FW21 chassis and so Ralf Schumacher and Alessandro Zanardi were able to work side by side in the new cars for the two-day test. Schumacher ended up fastest but completed only 50 laps because of bad weather on the second day. He set a best lap of 1m17.89s on the first day of the test. Zanardi did 70 laps to record a 1m18.31s on the second day.

Prost stayed on for an extra day but the weather was bad on Friday. Trulli did the first two days of the test in the new AP02 and completed a promising 123 laps with a best of 1m18.88s before handing over to Olivier Panis on the final day. He did 68 laps of wet weather running and set a best lap of 1m28.29s.

The team's test driver Stephane Sarrazin was in action on all three days in the old AP01B and completed 101 laps with a best of 1m21.26s. The three drivers completed a total of 820 miles of running during the test.

At Silverstone, Benetton, Jordan and Arrows were testing with Hill kicking off the action with three laps on the short National Circuit on Tuesday afternoon. The following day he was on the Grand Prix circuit in the new 199 while Heinz-Harald Frentzen drove an older 198.

Benetton was also in action with two B199 chassis and by the end of the two days of running Giancarlo Fisichella was fastest, having set a best lap of 1m27.01s after 70 laps. Alexander Wurz ran just the first of the two days, missing the second because his car needed a gearbox changed. The Austrian's best lap was 1m27.51s.

Frentzen emerged the faster of the two Jordan drivers in the old car. He completed around 60 laps with a best time of 1m27.95s while Hill did 75 laps in the new car to record a best of 1m28.02s.

Arrows ran Pedro de la Rosa on the first day of the test and Tora Takagi on the second. The Spanish driver completed 31Êlaps with a best lap of 1m29.85s while the Japanese rising star did only 15 laps with a best of 1m31.49s.